BOEING HELICOPTERS and the UK Ministry of Defence have completed contract negotiations for buying 14 HC Mk II CH-47D Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for the Royal Air Force.
The $365 million contract calls for deliveries to begin in 1997 and be completed by early 1999. The RAF will eventually operate a fleet of nearly 50 Chinooks, making it the largest operator of the helicopter outside the USA.
In March the UK elected to buy a mixed fleet of 14 Chinooks and 22 smaller Westland/Agusta EH-101s. The deal covers eight additional CH-47Ds, along with six attrition replacements. Boeing is already under contract to upgrade a total of 32 RAF Chinook HC Mk I helicopters to the Mk II configuration.
The sale assists Boeing Helicopters in stretching CH-47 production into the next century. The company is hoping for more foreign sales to keep the production line open so that another US Army Chinook modernisation programme may be possible.
Source: Flight International
